In 1965, Alphonse Pignataro, recently graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), boarded a plane bound for Barbados. For the Elizabeth, New Jersey, native, this marked a moment of multiple firsts: his first jet flight, his first time leaving the United States and the first year of a two-year Peace Corps
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Olga Sorzano has a simple mission of making delicious, farm-to-bottle kombucha. In the ten years since she founded Baba’s Brew, the brand has bloomed, with a new boosted kombucha flavor hitting shelves, and even more new product ventures on the way. Baba’s Brew is named after Sorzano’s grandmother, whose portrait hangs on the wall behind
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My last three columns have focused on ways that Philadelphia could launch or expand food scrap drop-off programs. And drop-off programs are the place to start. They build awareness, provide an option for motivated citizens who can’t afford private collection services, and they have relatively low operation costs. But when I saw that Washington, D.C.,
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In my previous two columns, I discussed a number of ways that the City could launch composting drop-off programs, either on its own or in partnership with private composting companies. A third way forward would be an expansion of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s Farm Philly Community Compost Network. Based on a program in Washington, D.C.,
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On March 14, a seven-year-old tree, which had arrived grafted with 15 varieties of stone fruits, was planted alongside a natural dye garden before a crowd of about 50 community members at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Sam Van Aken grafted 15 additional varieties onto the tree the next day and will
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As many people discovered during the COVID-19 boom in home baking, if you want a challenge, try baking with a sourdough starter. Iryna Teslia embraced this challenge, and sourdough became the basis for everything she produces in her micro-bakery, The Bread Anatomy — from traditional Ukrainian holiday breads like paska and kolach to all-American chocolate
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The outdoors is surging with the warmth and light of spring. Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming. Shoots are sprouting. Your neighbors are digging in the soil. No matter the color of your thumb, you may feel the urge to get your hands dirty and plant something. Indeed, now is the time to get those
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In last month’s issue, I wrote about how Philly could start a City-run composting drop-off program. Unfortunately, the City might not have the staffing to mount such an effort. Forty years ago, when the City was launching its recycling program, it had 23 employees in its recycling office. Today, the Department of Sanitation has two.
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Robert Amar had a solid business wholesaling seafood to some of Philly’s finest restaurants — until March 2020. As COVID-19 spread and city restaurants shuttered, Amar wondered what he could do. He had fresh fish on hand. Grocery stores were insane. He figured his Fairmount neighbors might appreciate some free seafood, so he sent a
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Have you ever watered a neglected plant only to find the water bouncing off the surface of the soil? If so, your potting soil likely has peat in it, which has been a go-to ingredient in potting soil since it’s been sold. Not only does peat require regular watering to keep its surface permeable, it
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